Melody Moore’s latest CD will feature her Desdemona from Verdi’s Otello. In her first recording of an Italian opera for Pentatone, she demonstrates that her truly youthful dramatic soprano voice is able to flawlessly continue the pure Italian tradition of a Renata Tebaldi.

The Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukoff once again widens his professional range, singing the demanding title role of Otello with ardent intensity. As his abysmally evil opponent, the American baritone Lester Lynch matches him in vocal intensity. Leading the prestigious Gulbenkian Orchestra in this ambitious studio recording is the dynamic and experienced conductor Lawrence Foster.

This CD is available for pre-order and download and will be released on November 1. To purchase your copy, visit Pentatone’s website.

For the American soprano, the important thing is to always keep the character relevant and realistic. “I love our director because Jose Maria Condemi is a thinking director, he actually thinks how much time has passed between this event and that event and what would have happened in that time. Often you would see Tosca come up to Act three with her full regalia dress, a crown and some big cloak made of velvet. And it’s not realistic because she just got off a safe passage to get out of the city and she’s been told at what time this fake execution is going to happen. So she would have had time to go and make herself a bit more discreet to be running to the streets and save Cavaradossi. You don’t do that in a full gown and a crown! You just don’t! Andrew is a real persons’ director. He wants the action to be realistic, so there is not a lot of parking and barking.” [Referring to the tendency of some singers and productions to stand up and sing without much acting].

Visit My Scena to read the rest of the article and listen to an excerpt from Vissi d’arte.

“… Tosca responds, of course, with Vissi d’arte, a famous showstopper, but also a heartfelt testimonial threaded seamlessly into the drama as rendered in rich voice by the American soprano Melody Moore-Wagner.”

“But it is Melody Moore-Wagner, at once sparkling and mischievous in her jealousy, sensitive and overwhelming in her tragedy, which captivates us from the beginning to the end. One feels she is at ease in this role that is so demanding, totally possessed by its tortured character who plunges into the drama out of love for her lover. Melody Moore-Wagner sings her role with great ease, she enjoys and takes possession of the stage.”

American soprano Melody Moore has appeared on many of the leading opera stages of the world, including as Mimi in La Bohème at the English National Opera, and as Regine St. Laurent in Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna at the New York City Opera.

One of the finest opera singers of her generation, Moore is probably best-known for her signature role, as Floria Tosca in Puccini’s masterpiece Tosca, a role she will reprise to open the 2017-2018 season of L’Opéra de Montréal.

The Opéra of Montréal will open its 2017-18 season with an all-time classic: Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, a drama in three acts revolving around a love triangle. A painter (Mario Cavaradossi) and a singing diva (Tosca) are in love, but Scarpia, the chief of Roma’s Police is looking for a political dissident who is hiding at Cavaradossi’s work place. Scarpia is so enraptured by Tosca’s beauty that he will do anything in his power to have sex with her…

After portraying the desperate diva in Los Angeles, Ms. Moore returns to the title role of Puccini’s Tosca in Montreal, where she’ll sing four performances on September 16, 19, 21 and 23. The classic Ponnelle production will be directed by Jose Maria Condemi. Of Ms. Moore’s role debut in 2012,the San Francisco Gate said about her Vissi d’arte that“[she] shaped the aria’s phrases with limpid purity but also a sense of cunning artifice.”

Ms. Moore will be joined on stage by Giancarlo Monsalve as Tosca’s doomed lover Cavaradossi and Gregory Dahl will portray the villain Scarpia, with Giuseppe Grazioli conducting all performances. For more information and tickets, click here.

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American soprano, Melody Moore, “has a vulnerability that is heartbreaking to watch” and a “rich, mellow tone” that is “achingly intense” according to critics writing of her performances from Hawaii to London.

Soprano Melody Moore is one of America’s most exciting talents. She has appeared on the stages of the San Francisco Opera in the title role of Tosca, Susan Rescorla in Heart of a Soldier, Mimì in La bohème, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, and the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Houston Grand Opera as Julie in Show Boat, Marta in the American premiere of Weinberg’s The Passenger, the title role in Carmen... read more

Featured Recording

In this debut recording, Melody Moore, Nikolai Schukoff, and Lester Lynch embody the indelible Shakespeare characters with a vitality and intensity in Verdi’s great last tragedy.